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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29352585">Talking In Your Sleep</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/weapon13WhiteFang/pseuds/weapon13WhiteFang'>weapon13WhiteFang</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Walking Dead &amp; Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Hunting, Sleep talking</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 14:09:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,876</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29352585</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/weapon13WhiteFang/pseuds/weapon13WhiteFang</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Daryl apparently talks in his sleep and Lydia has questions about the names he says.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Daryl Dixon &amp; Beth Greene, Daryl Dixon &amp; Lydia, Daryl Dixon/Beth Greene, Henry/Lydia (Walking Dead: Kingdom), Maggie Greene/Glenn Rhee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>47</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Talking In Your Sleep</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Song title and idea came from the song "Talking In Your Sleep" by The Romantics.... Which is a weird place to get this idea from, but meh lol</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“You talk. In your sleep… Did you know that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The question was asked with curiosity and hesitation on Lydia’s part. She was always curious about him. He was still a sort of stranger to her, shared trauma or not…. But she was also always very hesitant. As if expecting him to lash out at her with violence. Couldn’t blame her. Not like their first meetings were fucking sunshine and kittens. Or with her having a mother like Alpha… Will Dixon looked almost saintly compared to how that woman and her brick wall of a bastard, Beta, treated her</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Used to. When I was a kid. Merle’d wake me up and tell me to shut up. Old man thought I was back talking to him once… Bounced my head off the wall for it,” Daryl answered as they kept on, cutting through the thick brush of the forest floor, his crossbow ready while Lydia had her knife.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lydia didn’t react to that bit of knowledge. Not that he would expect her to. Instead she seemed to stow that away, just as he would do with her. When he stowed things like that away, it was to remind himself that she had her own history and he should respect it and try to be careful of it… He didn’t know what Lydia did with what she learned from him, but she’d always look at him just a little less guarded. Even after all this time, that guard was up. But moments like this… He saw it drop just a little.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You kept saying names… Rick? Glenn?... I recognized Merle… He was your brother… Beth?” she mumbled and Daryl’s entire body stiffened up and he saw Lydia stiffen up as well, slowing her steps down and putting distance between them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A part of him – the old him – wanted to lash at her to shut up and mind her own fucking business. But now, after being around RJ and Judith and learning that sometimes he would get painful questions he couldn’t just lash away, he just wanted to hit his own stupid self for running his mouth. Even if it wasn’t entirely his fault and he had no control over it, he wanted to beat his own ass.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re people you lost, right? Like my dad?” Lydia asked softly as Daryl slowly turned and looked back at her through the fringe of his hair. She was hiding behind her own as she waited to see what he’d do, what he’d say. He wasn’t going to yell at this girl, but he wanted to tell her to shut the fuck up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t want to talk about them. Not right now… Probably not ever. Not to someone who didn’t know them. Who didn’t get to see that such good people could survive in this world and other people had to fuck it up… That he’d failed each of them and it still, to this day, pained him to even think about.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So, instead, he just shook his head at her and turned around to keep walking. He didn’t have to turn around to know Lydia was following him. She didn’t say anything else, though. And after roughly twenty minutes, they had bagged a few squirrels and a deer. He left the squirrels to Lydia while he decided to field dress the deer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They worked in silence, the chirping of birds and the distant sound of the forest the only thing he heard besides the slicing of the knife through their kills. He didn’t need to make sure Lydia was messing up. If there was one thing she was real good at, it was field prepping and skinning. So he focused on the deer, heart beating like a gong against his chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Beth… He hadn’t heard her name - hadn’t said her name - out loud in so long… The meer sound of it had left him feeling like his world was spinning… It’s not that he didn’t want to hear her name. After all this time - Maggie never saying her name and the others shying away from it, Noah being the last one who dared to say her name around him - it shook him to the core.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t remember his dreams. Not all of them. He knew bits and pieces. He supposed he blocked them because he had more nightmares than dreams. And who wants to remember those? Especially with his nightmares being memories he did his best to tuck away. The pain from them wasn’t gone, but Daryl didn’t wanna go burying himself in that kind of hurt if he could avoid it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finishing up, Daryl easily hefted the deer over his shoulder, watching Lydia secure the squirrels to the belt he’d made for her… Beth would’ve liked her. He thinks she would’ve wanted to help Lydia… Like she helped him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>An ache hit his chest and Daryl grunted, motioning for Lydia to follow him. He’d left Dog with Connie and Kelly. He’s sure the damn mutt was driving them nuts by now. They’d been out for two days to Hunt, leaving Yumiko in charge with Gabriel and Aaron. The people liked Yumiko and respected her the same way that they had respected Michonne. And Gabriel and Aaron being senior members of the community made people comfortable with her…. And for some reason, people trusted his judgement on who he picked to hold down things when he was out or Maggie was unavailable… Still amazed him, having people trust him like that.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“You’re a good person, Daryl Dixon. That’s why. They all know it. And I know one day you’ll believe it.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Daryl almost tripped at the voice. He was used to hearing a voice calling him a piece of shit or helping him think things out. Most of the time, nowadays, it was Rick’s voice. Or Glenns… Sometimes both. In the past, it had been Merle or his old man. Those voices hadn’t gone mute, but they weren’t as frequent, thankfully… But he’d never had Her voice sound so crisp and loud in his conscience. Not for a long time…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gathering himself and keeping his footing, Daryl trekked on, following behind Lydia. He let his thoughts wander, which was never a good thing out in the woods. He came out here to clear his head, not fill it back up. Adjusting the deer, Daryl watched the back of Lydia’s head as she easily led them back in the right direction. She was off in thought, though. He could tell. Her steps changed when she was thinking too much. It was something he’d come to notice about her.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Are you afraid to talk to her still?” </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>This voice… This was Glenn. His gentle but teasing tone gave Daryl’s chest an ache, but it wasn’t the same as the ache with Beth or even Rick.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“He’s not afraid of nothing.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Beth… Daryl could feel his own steps faltering again and he glanced up at the tree tops, the sky peaking through the leaves and branches. It was a sunny day. The weather was warm but there was a cool breeze… It must be around springtime if he had to guess. Probably around April if he could guess the month and that kind of shit still mattered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You asked… If they were people I lost, right?” Daryl found himself speaking up, making Lydia turn to look at him over her shoulder, just as surprised as him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nodded and Daryl came in step with her, looking up at the tree tops as he spoke. For once… He kind of wanted to talk about them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They were good people. Even my dumb ass brother was in his own way… Rick was Michonne’s husband. He’s also the one that kept us all together after things went to shit,” he explained, thinking of his dear friend… Whose body he still never found. Probably never would.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He got eaten?” Lydia asked and Daryl shook his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nah…. Sacrificed himself to save all of us from a hoard,” he mumbled, still recalling the sound of the explosion and the look Rick had given him before he’d set the explosions off. Could still recall the warmth of the flames and the sound of Michonne’s screams as he walked away from it all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Glenn?” Lydia asked. “I heard that name… Saw it on the wall at Hilltop…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maggie’s husband… Good man. Ask your buddy Negan what happened to him and our friend Abraham,” Daryl grumbled darkly, grip tightening around the legs of the deer as Lydia’s expression became guarded, understanding.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They walked in silence, Daryl trying to shake off the horrible Memory of Glenn’s head being fucking smashed open like a watermelon… The sound of him and Abraham being bludgeoned to death would never leave his memory… And no matter what Maggie said… That shit was his fault.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“It wasn’t your fault, brother.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Rick… He didn’t say it, but that was his fault to. If he hadn’t been so gun-ho on helping Maggie get her revenge. If he and Rick had maybe talked sooner instead of while trapped in a fucking hole…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nah. He knew better. They were both too damn stubborn, Rick too lost in his plan to make Carl’s dream work and Daryl… He’d been so full of hatred and need for revenge himself… Them getting trapped like they had was definitely the only way he could see them having talked it out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Beth?” Lydia asked after a beat, hesitant this time. Daryl had probably put up her walls to protect herself with how he’d spoken of Negan. That was a subject they never would agree on. Negan was, probably always would be, a complicated subject matter for everyone that asshole got close to, no matter the way he did.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maggie’s sister… She used to take care of Judith when she was born… Always singing some song, not a damn care who heard her… She was a good person… She was…” Daryl found himself struggling. Because… What did you say about a girl like Beth had been? How do you explain sunshine to someone? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She was your Henry,” Lydia said softly, looking down at her feet as Daryl paused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His Henry… Henry had been the one to accept Lydia as she was, had been willing to let her see she was something more than what she believed… </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Daryl mumbled, looking down at his own feet and fighting down tears he could feel prickling his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fuck, he couldn’t be getting all goddamn emotional out here. Needed his head straight.. Which, he never could keep his head straight when he thought of Beth. Which he did more than he wanted to admit. But speaking about her was a whole other level of emotions he didn’t think he’d ever be ready for.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“C’mon… Gonna get dark soon,” Daryl muttered, walking ahead of the teen. He could hear her follow behind him, the two once again falling into silence as they made for Hilltop. It was still under repair so they’d hear it before they saw it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened? To Beth?” Lydia asked softly, carefully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Daryl shifted the deer on his shoulder - which was starting to get a little heavy now - before he glanced back at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s just gone.”</span>
</p>
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